Bali to Brisbane - Or where did all the mopeds go?

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5th January 2011

Why is it we struggle to get up so often, and then when you really need to wake up for something important, you awake literally minutes before the alarm that you set? Our internal clocks really are amazingly accurate things when they want to be!

I awoke at 4:57am, and waited until the 5am alarm beeped then got up, and put the kettle on and got in the shower. Not only is this the earliest morning I can remember but the easiest to arise also, why is that?

Anyway, morning ablutions taken care of, dressed and a cup of ginger tea down our throats and into the taxi for the twenty minute ride (at this time of day, more like an hour and a half at rush hour) to Ngurai Rai Airport. As we turned onto the Ngurai Rai boulevard past the statue of the eponymous hero, I have to say we were both a little upset to be leaving Bali.

I had to smile when as we drove into the airport departures entrance, the large sign does not say, “thank you for visiting” nor “Please visit us again” there are no platitudes nor dismissals in the statement that adorns their banner. “See you soon” is what is written and the longer I have been here the more I can understand the confidence in that statement, there is an energy to Bali that everybody we have met here realises and that is why so many of them return numerous times. It is an energy that makes me believe that we will return to this beautiful island where we have grown so much in so many ways.

I will not bore any of you with the details of that statement, but suffice to say we have both felt that our time in Bali has been good for us, and has opened our eyes to many things. We will be taking many positives with us as we depart.

Speaking of which we were actually a little early for check-in but the gate was displayed on the board and so we headed in that direction. By just after 6am we were in the front of the queue, awaiting the opening of the desk, safe in the knowledge that we had already checked in online and only needed to check the bags and hope that we could check them through all the way until Brisbane so we didn’t have to go through immigration in Singapore.

After a brief worry when the ladies behind the desk couldn’t find our ticket for the Brisbane flight in the system, they eventually did and we turned around to realise that the rest of the (albeit short) queue had already checked in. So we headed upstairs to pay the departure tax (they sting on the way in and out here) through immigration (surely we are not arriving?) and into the departure lounge for an hour of sleep deprived shopping breakfast and yawning.

When we finally get onto the plane after what seems like an age, I look out the window at the unique sight of a finger of land stuck into the ocean with waves breaking in blue/green water on either side. Had I managed to get up this early a few more times I could have surfed much more of the surf that I see before me in the distance.

We taxi to the runway’s end about turn and take off into the light Easterly wind and the morning sun. Banking steeply to the left we swing around above Kuta, and head Northwest over our former residence and onward to Singapore.

The flight is scheduled to be two hours, so the in flight entertainment system which allows you to select a movie is started up, and we both choose things to watch that are as short as possible for fear of not seeing the end. However with the system paused for a safety video, every announcement (I’m really not bothered about the height we are flying at or the outside cabin temperature - I just want my film/!) when the system is switched off on decent both of us haven’t finished our films despite them being only 90 minute titles.

We double check everything before we depart the plane and I am happy to report we successfully disembark with one intact iPad along with all other items.

It is now roughly 11:30 and we have been awake for 5 hours and I for one am starting to get hungry despite having a pastry in the airport in Bali, and breakfast on the plane. This is a result of the tiredness, and isn’t going to change very quickly.

Our connection isn’t until 12:10am tomorrow, so we have about 13 hours to kill. We have done some research previously and are aware that there are among the standard duty free shopping options, a cinema and a swimming pool to entertain us.

We have landed in terminal 2 and depart from terminal 3 which we get to via terminal 1 so we get to truly experience the airport in all its glory, all three terminals! Hurrah!

After a quick browse of the first batch of duty free shops in search of perfume for Lou we then headed for lunch followed by a very leisurely stroll in the direction of terminal 1. Whilst there are moving walkways that speed up the journey we opted to actually walk, after all the more time we passed the better.

Terminal 1 was familiar to us having been here before, and was also the location of the rooftop swimming pool, but instead of this we opted to head to the cinema, at least to check what was showing and when before making any decisions on what we would do. This meant continuing our amble in the direction of terminal 3.

WE got there located the cinema and checked the listings on a board in the main concourse - there wasn’t much of interest to us but we thought we’d go for the 2pm film anyway to pass some time. It was meant to be “The Brave One” staring Jodie Foster but when we got into the cinema a couple of minutes late it became apparent that the listings were incorrect and we were actually watching a film called “Brothers” starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, and Tobey Maguire.

We had hoped the darkness of the cinema would allow us to have a snooze, but the film somehow gripped both of us too much and whilst not a straightforward or easy view was not too bad.

From here we did some more shopping with Lou finally deciding on one of the four different perfumes she had tested out. Then some dinner, an Indian in one of the food areas which was pretty good considering it was airport food.

The early morning was really catching up with us now and Lou wanted nothing more than to sleep, which I could sympathise with but I am awful at sleeping on planes, so was doing my best to stay awake in the hope that I would be able to drop off once we did get on board.

Time passed and we did eventually move in the direction of the departure lounge, but the last couple of hours seemed like an eternity. We finally boarded settled in pretty swiftly and after take off, we both finished the respective films we had started nearly 15 hours earlier on the previous flight. They brought round dinner (now our fifth or sixth meal I can’t remember) and then I fell asleep really quickly!

6th January 2011

I awoke and the time was either 6 or 8 depending on which time zone I was using. There was sunlight outside the plane window (although most were still obscured) and they were bringing breakfast around. I’m not entirely sure how long I had slept but I felt OK. When Lou awoke and we did look out the window we could see land below and flooded areas of land at that. The weather didn’t look too bad initially but that soon changed.

We flew into a bank of cloud and the lights came on for us to put our belts on as the turbulance was quite bad. The next thing we know there is a huge bang as lightening struck the plane (at least we think it did, it was right next to the window)

We started the descent into Brisbane with the lovely announcement that nobody on the plane had ever heard before : “We are starting our descent into Brisbane now, could you put your seats upright, stow your tray tables, and familiarise yourself with your nearest emergency exit.”

WHAT? Did they just say check for your nearest emergency exit? Surely not. Maybe I had got it wrong after all its hard to concentrate when your stomach is jumping around in the turbulence. Looking around clearly everybody else had heard it, and nobody was looking very relaxed I have to say.

We drop out of some cloud, and we are almost on the ground. Oh dear this could be rough.

In actual fact the touchdown was pretty smooth so obviously the approach was the bit they were worried about, or the pilot was better than we knew, either way we are glad to be on the ground.

As one of very few non-Australian citizens on the flight the international passport line is really short, and we breeze through, collect our luggage, and head through customs with less hassle than I can remember at an airport.

We get some cash out of the ATM and head for the train station, to get into town, and as we walk out of the airport onto the gantry that connects to the train station, the quiet is amazing. We look down and see a car park. It takes us a minute but then we realise that there is no hooting, and only cars are moving very quietly - where are all the mopeds? This is going to take some getting used to.

The train ride into town is short as is the journey to cousin Chris’ office (mercifully.) We meet him dump our bags and go for lunch nearby. Lunch was always going to be one thing and that was steak. Lou has been waiting to get to Oz for a steak for some time, and I wasn’t to be outdone. Two medium rare steaks arrive, and the difference in portion size between Asia and “the west” is also noticeable. Had we slept properly I may have struggled to finish it, but with my tiredness induced hunger there was no stopping me.

Whilst we are tucking in the rain starts - now we aren’t strangers to rain having been in Balinese Rainy season for a month but it is colder here, and it just keeps on going, so our trip back towards the office is a wet one. We leave Chris to his afternoon work, whilst we head into the nearest shopping mall to keep dry.

The similarity with home is noticeable yet the differences are significant enough that it doesn’t quite feel right. Neither of us can quite put our finger on it. One of the big differences is the price - it is really expensive here, and not just in comparison with Asia, but in comparison with the UK also. As an example books which are £7 at home are not equivalent, here they are about $30 which is nearly three times the price!

Anyway we wasted away the afternoon barely managing to stay awake until we could return to Chris’ office and then we all got a taxi back to his place.

First thing on the list was having a shower. Absolute blissful relief after the accumulation of grime over three countries. This was the tonic we needed and the next thing we knew we had eaten and chatted the evening away and it was nearly 11pm, this came as a shock to us both as we hadn’t expected to last past about 7.

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Photos

View from the plane
if you look carefully you can just make out "Airport lefts" breaking behind the tail of the plane.